Double-bracelet Sunday on WSOP.com was thematically focused on the number seven. Both events were labeled as "Lucky 7's," but with an order of magnitude difference in the buy-ins. The high-roller tournament (Online Bracelet #8) had a hefty $7,777 entry fee, while Online Bracelet #9 featured a more manageable $777.
As has become customary on WSOP.com, the high-roller event was played six-handed. The eight-handed lower buy-in tournament led numerologists to note gleefully that the average of eight and six is seven, and that the date of November 14 is twice seven.
Online Bracelet #8
The heavy hitters received the benefit of the earlier start time of the two events. Four hours of late registration saw nearly half of the total field of 183 players eliminated in the single re-entry tournament. a total of 47 players took advantage of the re-entry option, creating a prize pool of $1,696,710.
The final table saw some familiar names, including WSOP bracelet-winner William "SlaweelRyam" Romaine, and Dylan "sobchak7" Linde -- who finished third in Online Bracelet #7 last week. But it was Aleksejs "APonakov" Ponakovs of Latvia who prevailed, taking down the first prize of $439,491 and the gold bracelet.
The win concludes an impressive and profitable few days for the Latvian player. On November 11 Ponakovs placed 4th in Event #36 in the Aria High-Roller Series, then two days later placed 8th in the same series. Ponakovs is no stranger to online success, having previously won PokerStars Sunday Million, as well as an online WPT title.
Online Bracelet #9
The second bracelet event of the day was a double re-entry affair that attracted 732 unique entrants. 390 re-entries bloated the prize pool to $755,400, with $146,163 going to first.
The heads-up tussle between Dr.Feelg00da and uNORTH0doX was a lively and extended affair, but it nearly never happened. With play three-handed, a short-stacked uNORTH0doX got all-in preflop against Jefferoni1, and received the bad news that their K4 was dominated by Jefferoni1's KQ. A four on the flop was enough for uNORTH0doX to survive and double up. A few hands later, Jefferoni1 shoved into Dr.Feelg00da's AA and was eliminated in third.
The knock-out left Dr.Feelg00da with a 3:2 chip advantage and around 40bb. That chip lead would be extended, pushing uNORTH0doX well into shove-fold territory. However, two preflop all-ins saw the latter double up twice to get back into contention.
uNORTH0doX would take a 2:1 chip lead through another preflop all-in, when their dominating AJ held up against Dr.Feelg00da's dominated J9s. But that pot represented the high-water mark for uNORTH0doX, who steadily lost ground to their opponent.
In the final hand shown below, uNORTH0doX got the chips in ahead, but a king on the flop was enough for Dr.Feelg00da to win the gold bracelet.
Featured image source: Twitter
